The remaining 8,500 are nearly all American (mostly Third Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division). There is also an Albanian commando company.

In August 2004, South Korea is due to start deploying 3,000 new troops in Irbil. Most of the 700 South Koreans already in the country have been based in the south-east, but about half are now, reportedly, being redeployed to Irbil.

Bush – “The A.Q. Khan network has been brought to justice.” Anybody know what punishment Khan got? Last I heard, for the crime of spreading nuclear weapons technology to members of the “axis of evil”, he was fired from his job and had some assets seized. Is that “justice” or has Pakistan finally locked him up or executed him and I just missed the news? If not, I assume we’ll invade Pakistan, capture Khan, and put him in Gitmo. That’s what Bush’s policies demand. Bush – “Saddam Hussein had no intention of disarming.” Where are the weapons if he had no intention of disarming? Please note that Bush didn’t say, “Saddam had no intention of ceasing some weapons of mass destruction related program activities.” Bush – “The facts are that he was systematically deceiving the inspectors.” Specifics please. Remember, he’s talking here of the period between the time Bush went to the UN and got the Security Council Resolution and the time we invaded. The “deceptions” he claimed before; stockpiles of weapons, bio-weapons labs, nuclear-related aluminum tubes etc. haven’t turned out to have been deceptions at all. Bush – “We’ve got 100,000 (Iraqi troops) trained now, 125,000 by the end of this year, 200,000 by the end of next year. Those numbers are far higher than what US military leaders say are actually trained or will be trained in that timeframe. Bush – “My opponent at one time said, ‘Well, get me elected, I’ll have them out of there in six months.'” Kerry debunked that one during the debate. I’m tired. That should be enough Bush lies to get things started.

I posted elsewhere that I thought Bush’s claims of the potential of a six nation summit on North Korea’s nuclear future was dishonest given the already reported fact of N.K.’s refusal to even continue to bother with it…

Add in Wesley Clark and others in the last day discussing how Bush’s refusal to work bilaterally with the North Koreans out of a fear of looking too much like Clinton was the impetus of the multination plan, and that the plan’s only real success was in making China look like our political superior, and I think it seals the deal.